Constants and Variables
by MixnSpice
Summary: A collection of my submissions for Kamunami Week 2018. "Day 7: Outcasts. The post-apocalypse has been done to death in television, and Chiaki has played games with similar settings before. There shouldn't be a problem when it actually happens. (There is a problem; she isn't one of the human survivors.)"
1. Prepare for Trouble, Make it Double

**Day 1: Masquerade**

 **Summary:** The Hinata brothers decide to play a prank on their dates with their respective girlfriends. Little did they know, an unforeseen factor throws their plan out of the window.

 **A/N:** Just to clarify a few things in this AU:

\- Izuru's surname is Hinata, because letting him have the exact same name as the school's founder opens a whole can of worms I don't want to deal with.

\- (The Nanami twins have the same first name because (I'm too lazy to make up a new name for the other twin) but SDR2 goes by her first name Chiaki while DR3 goes by her surname Nanami.) **EDIT:** Thanks to a suggestion by BestAtBeingBad, DR3 now goes by Chiaki while SDR2 goes by Chiharu.

* * *

Izuru couldn't believe what his brother was planning.

"It's simple, really! All we have to do is dress up and act as each other for today, and neither Chiaki nor Chiharu would really know the difference if we pull it off together."

Apparently, out of all people to suggest something that's not only ridiculous, but also a recipe for disaster, it had to be his brother Hajime. He wondered if maybe the craziness of Class 77-B has finally gotten to his usually rational brother's head; that wouldn't be a surprise if that were the case.

"Wouldn't that technically be a form of cheating?" He asked.

The spiky-haired boy only waved him off. "We'll tell them about the ruse at the end of the day; it's all in good fun, Izuru. I mean come on, we're not in one of those terrible rom-com animes and our girlfriends aren't the kind of people to beat us up for something as simple as this."

It took a few more convincing, but in the end, the younger twin agreed, but only because he knows that his older brother wouldn't budge as soon as he set his mind to something. Also, he could always bail out and tell the twin sisters and say that it was all Hajime's idea.

By the time they're done, the twins took a good look at the mirror, and needless to say, they were a dead ringer for each other; there wasn't anything that a change of clothes, contact lenses, and a wig that couldn't do, after all!

With that said, just looking like each other wouldn't be enough. Sure, they look exactly alike as each other, but they should also consider the factor of acting as the other while in his place, and a wrong move would be enough to tip a red flag to either Chiaki or Chiharu.

Since they've been living together for at least their entire lives now, it wasn't much trouble to know each other's personality and quirks; at least that's what the older twin thinks.

Now that they've prepared themselves, the brothers went outside their room, with Hajime putting on the best mysterious stoic impression he could pull off while Izuru barely put any effort in distinguishing himself in terms of atmosphere. This earned an unamused look from his brother.

"Oh come on, you're not even trying!"

Izuru only shrugged at that.

* * *

The easy part was arriving by the meeting place; Hajime already told him where he and Chiharu would meet, and it's at a simple cafe around the street, which made sense, as she's always been the milder of the two. Then, the hard part was maintaining composure throughout the entire masquerade as his more laidback twin, especially if he were to act as Hajime while spending time with his brother's girlfriend.

Upon arriving at his destination, he was greeted with a wave from the girl in a blue-green hoodie waiting for him. In contrast with them, the sisters were far more identical in terms of appearance, and besides a slight difference in hair color, the only sure way to tell them apart were the clothes they're wearing, and even then, people still get confused over them.

"Hey, sorry if I kept you waiting." To a casual observer, Izuru matches his brother's voice and tone well, but if they knew him better, they would notice that he sounded a bit forced, and if it could be described, it would be a 'yep I'm totally normal nothing suspicious at all don't mind me' kind of tone.

"It's fine, I just arrived here too." That was what she replied, and forgive him if it sounds a little irrational and maybe paranoid of him, but he swore that he saw Chiharu tilt her head at him, and that there's something different about her today.

No, it's probably just him. Don't get so worked up over nothing. He berated himself.

It was easy enough to get in the cafe with her, order their respective drinks, and then find a table just for the two of them. It was a small piece of labor to find random topics to discuss with her, should it ever come up. The greatest challenge for him to do, however, is to resist the urge to just tell his brother's girlfriend the truth right then and there because honestly he should have never agreed to do this stupid thing-

"Hi-Hajime?" He heard her call to him, noticing a split-second stutter in her voice, adding more fuel to the 'this really is a stupid thing to do' fire. "You're not sick, aren't you?"

Before she could reach a hand to his face and potentially ruining his disguise, Izuru quickly spoke. "Oh, I'm doing fine, Chiharu." He even added a 'relaxed' chuckle after it, even though ironically, it's anything but that.

Thankfully, she accepted that for now. "Just tell me if you're feeling well, okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I don't want you to get too worried for me, after all."

Honestly, he could easily tell her anytime he wanted, but for now, he might as well keep the ruse up until he gets a good reason to drop it.

* * *

After narrowly averting anymore potential slip ups in the end of the cafe date, the two proceeded to just spend the rest of their day together at a park. Currently, they're resting on a bench while trying to move past each other in a racing game.

Izuru knows that Hajime is no good at video games, and so he thought that faking a loss would be easy. It would be so easy; he wouldn't have to lift even a finger for it.

Boy was he wrong.

Even though he wants to lose this game just so that he could keep his cover for now, apparently some higher being in the universe decided that now's a good time to mess with him, and because of that, every single power up he gets in the game is the bane of every Mario Kart player's existence: the blue shell.

Because of that, every single time he gets the cursed item, Izuru was quick to discard it like it was trash, narrowly missing Chiharu's racer in the process. He received odd looks from her because of that, but right now that's the least of his concern.

Just one lap more, and this round will be over. He saw that his avatar picked another item, and surprise surprise, it was another blue shell. Cursing under his breath, he threw it off; allowing himself to sigh after ridding himself of what is finally the last of those things.

However, he ended up jinxing it, and so the blue shell ended up hitting the girl's racer this time around. Because of that, his racer ended up catching up to her and took the first place.

In other words, the universe decided to flip the middle finger on him.

Without even turning to her surprised look, he spoke in his usual collected tone, now dropping the laidback tone his brother always used. "Chiharu, there is something that I wish to tell you."

Now that he has her attention, and before she could say a word, he placed a hand on the wig and pulled it off, letting his black hair drape over his shoulders. He kept the contact lenses for now, because now isn't exactly a proper time for that, but nevertheless that was enough to show her the truth.

"Izuru?"

Izuru fully expected her to be surprised at his reveal, but hearing her stifle a giggle, only to full-on laugh afterwards? Admittedly, not so much.

Blinking, he turned towards her, seeing her clutch her stomach while in the middle of her laughing fit. "Was it really that funny?"

Taking a few seconds to calm herself down, with a few giggles left in between, she replied, "I...I can't believe that you did it too!"

Did what too, exactly? Now that he had a closer look at her, Izuru could now see that the shade on 'Chiharu's' hair was more on the cream-color side rather than pink.

Ah, that explains it.

"Chiaki; it's you, isn't it?"

As it turns out, at the exact same time the Hinata brothers (or as Izuru like to think, only Hajime was the true mastermind behind it) decided to swap places, the Nanami sisters also thought of the exact same thing, though in their case it's more due to curiosity if the others would be able to tell if who is who.

Because of that, they ended up going with their original dates all along...while dressed up as their opposing partners.

While the rest of their date ended up going smoothly, now that they both knew the truth, there is one thing certain in Izuru's mind.

He's going to whoop Hajime's backside real good in their group's round of BlazBlue for this.

* * *

 **A/N:** To anyone who's curious, Hajime's ruse actually lasted a bit longer even though he has more difficulty keeping the act up, due to Chiharu being denser compared to her older sister, and so she never really suspected him until they were both chased by a dog a la Doraemon and she heard "Izuru" scream.


	2. Class Choice

**Day 2: Secret Admirer/Private Notes**

 **Summary:** Just this morning, he saw that two envelopes were left on his desk. The first one, pink in color, was sealed with a heart-shaped stamp on the front; he doesn't need to lean in to know that it was laced with some sort of fancy perfume. It was addressed to him, and when he looked for the name of the sender, all he saw was that it came from a 'secret admirer'.

For a secret admirer, they are so painfully obvious.

 **A/N:** This can be considered as taking place in the same universe as my previous entry, but it takes place a bit earlier than that, as Izuru and Chiaki aren't dating yet.

With that said, Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

* * *

Knowing what the day it would be tomorrow, the 'romantic' atmosphere present everywhere wouldn't come off as a surprise to him. The halls were decorated in all sorts of red and pink paper hearts to the point that a single person's eyes would burn just by looking at them. Some students who are also official couples can be seen and heard planning about their dates for Valentine's, and a few of them even got scolded by Kiyotaka for their excess PDA.

Izuru didn't get the appeal for a day like this, and frankly, he never would. Why dedicate only a single day to loving someone if you could just do it anytime you want?

Those were his thoughts as he held the two pieces of paper in his hand.

Just this morning, he saw that two envelopes were left on his desk.

The first one, tinted pink in color, was sealed with a heart-shaped stamp on the front; he doesn't need to lean in to know that it was laced with some sort of fancy perfume that stung his sense of smell. From what he could read, it is addressed to him, and when he looked for the name of the sender, he saw none; all he saw was that it came from a 'secret admirer'.

Izuru wanted to roll his eyes at this.

He never really saw himself as the kind of person to have admirers, mostly because he kept to himself save for his brother and a few friends, but that little detail is not important right now.

After opening it, he got what is unmistakably and undeniably, a love letter. To no one's surprise, the paper used for it was just as pink as the envelope. The pinkness is almost sickening at this point. The person's handwriting was in an elegant, and dare he say, rather girly style of cursive.

His eyes skimmed over the contents, finding it to be filled with all sorts of cutesy wording and other stuff found in clichéd girl's manga to the point where it just felt so dull; it felt like it dragged on and on how much they took a liking to him. The last thing it read was that they want to meet him at the back of the school after classes.

From the approach alone, he already knew who wrote this. For a secret admirer, they are so painfully obvious.

Now that he's finished checking the first one, he placed it back on his desk and opened the other envelope.

The second one, on the other hand, would be considered underwhelming in any ordinary person's standards. It was just plain, with an equally plain white sheet of paper used for the letter. There was no perfume scented for this one like the previous letter, which he was thankful for.

Unlike the first one, after checking for any names, he found out that this envelope came from Chiaki. The letter she wrote didn't have much written, only asking if he's available for today, and if he is, she'd like him to meet up with her at her home after classes, as Chiharu is out with Hajime for today.

To think that two completely contrasting letters ask for the same thing is somewhat amusing. With that said, he knows that he can only attend to one as he can't be at two places at once, and needless to say, he didn't even need a minute to decide.

After the bell rang, Izuru left the classroom, the plain envelope in his pocket as the pink one was left in the bin.

* * *

Upon arriving at the Nanami residence, he'll admit that he thought it would be just a simple play date, but there was no sign of Chiaki in the living room, and even then, the consoles the sisters owned were currently not in use and plugged off, save for the ones that were being charged.

Deciding to check where she might be, he arrived at the kitchen, he saw plenty of kitchenware and some sorts of ingredients were cluttered around. Lo and behold, there's Chiaki, clad in an apron; it took her a while to notice him, and by the time she did, she greeted him with a smile. "Hey, Izuru! I hope that I didn't bother you today."

"It wasn't any trouble." He walked in, and after taking notice of some ingredients like milk, sugar, and cocoa, he immediately came to a conclusion. "You're making chocolates for tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Mmhmm." Was Chiaki's reply as she placed a batch in the oven.

"Is it for anyone in particular?" He asked.

The girl shook her head. "Well, not really; it's for everyone in our class, including Ms. Yukizome." Closing the oven, she turned to him and added, "I'm going to make some for you, Hajime, and Chiharu too."

Of course, he's not in the least bit surprised about that one. His eyes turned to the table, noticing a finished batch of her chocolates. Appearance-wise, the chocolates are a bit rough around the edges, showcasing their maker's amateur skills, but overall they don't look bad. If it came to the taste, however, that can be an entirely different story.

"May I?" He asked, waiting for her permission. Upon seeing her nod with a reply of "Sure.", he grabbed one, taking it into his mouth as Chiaki waited for what he would say.

When he was finished in chewing the last piece of it off, Izuru hummed thoughtfully. "You added too much sugar in it, didn't you?" Seeing her look away with a pout, he then said, "You know that you won't improve without criticism."

His tone softened. "With that said, you didn't do it that bad; I'll admit that its thought and presentation was done nicely."

Taking a pair of plastic gloves, he put them on and looked back at her.

"Come on, I'll help in making your chocolates. Not only will we finish faster; I can also give you some tips along the way."


	3. Myst

**Day 3: Mystery**

 **Summary:** It can be difficult to understand others.

* * *

Izuru Kamukura is a mystery.

Chiaki has more than trouble reading him, whether it is his body language, his thoughts or even his interests. Even his mood can be difficult to read, as he rarely expresses any emotions besides boredom. If it were anyone else in her shoes, they might have thought that it wouldn't be worth being friends with a creepy guy who doesn't talk that much.

Still, that didn't stop her from trying to befriend him anyway. Spending time with him whenever there's free time, talk about a few things, maybe play a game or two, and overall just getting to know each other.

They may have been friends for a while now, and she might know him a bit better now, she'll admit that she still has trouble reading him; people skills were never her strong forte, after all. It's caused more than a deal of challenges in the past, and a great load of challenges for their friendship.

But, it's alright; anyone in her shoes might have given up by now, but she wouldn't trade spending time with Izuru for anything else in the world.

* * *

Izuru can't understand.

He knew that other people weren't too keen on socializing with him. That fact doesn't bother him in the slightest; he'd honestly prefer keeping to himself if it meant keeping nosy people out of his sight. It's always been that way for him for a while now.

That is, until a classmate of his talked to him and actually stayed for more than a minute within his presence.

At first, he let her do as she wished; he thought that she would eventually get tired of his dismissive attitude towards people, and everything would go back the way they used to. He didn't expect that she would actually try and keep her friendship with him, no matter how many close calls they had.

Even now, he still isn't quite sure on why he tolerated her attempts in knowing him better for so long, and dare he say, he might have actually enjoyed her company. Perhaps, as he spent more and more with her, she began influencing him in ways he couldn't exactly comprehend?

There is only thing for certain.

Chiaki Nanami is a mystery to him.


	4. Long Way Forward

**Day 4: Shelter**

 **Summary:** It's only a simulated world of codes and binaries; everyone who gets in will come and go.

Even then, they'll do the best they can for this shelter.

 **A/N:** I think that it's time the AIs get their turn, right?

* * *

Supposedly, lying down on the grass and looking up to the skies would feel very relaxing to your body. At least, that's the information Chiaki passed on to him after hearing it from another person who was once a 'guest' of this place.

Judging by how soundly asleep the girl is right now, it might have been effective; But since he personally knew her, it's either that, or it's just how she usually is, easily sleepy and all. Whatever it was, it didn't do much for him.

This world wasn't real, that much was a fact.

No matter how blue the skies were, no matter how lush the trees were, they were naught but mere imitations of the real thing; pixels stacked upon pixels. All objects residing inside were only simulations in a virtual reality.

He, Chiaki, and Usami are the only natives who are completely conscious, but even then, that's because they were created for that purpose. This virtual environment is supposed to be run by someone, and their creators wouldn't have all the time in the world to monitor everything that happens in here, after all.

But, it's not like the humans who'll get inside will know the difference anyway. As long as they see what they like to see, they won't care. As long as they enjoy their perfect little paradise until their problems are fixed or simply go away, he, aptly nicknamed by their creators as 'World Destroyer', would remove any interference towards that happiness.

"Izuru, you're thinking hard again, aren't you?" A soft, still somewhat sleepy voice called out to him.

Turning towards the AI with him, he then said, "What made you come to that conclusion?"

Yawning, Chiaki replied, "You're making that face again whenever you do that, I think."

Was he scowling again? Maybe that's what she meant by that. Thinking about it, the AI softened his features, wearing the usual blank look on his face. Opening his mouth to speak, he broke the news to her.

"Chiaki," He began, "Within an hour, there will be sixteen new guests who'll arrive here. From what I've heard, it's another one of 'those' cases."

Her face dropped. "Oh, that."

It's rare that they would deal with youngsters put through that sort of situation, happening at least once in a while. With this one, however, she wasn't sure if it's a good idea to help these kids who had their problems rooted from within a virtual reality with another virtual reality, even if the second one was admittedly, more benevolent.

In the worst case scenario, their condition might end up skyrocketing should they do it wrong. Rare as it may be, there had been times where even the AIs couldn't do anything to help with their guests' problems, and if that happens, those poor guests would be deemed to be beyond help and be sent away to who knows where. What if this is one of those times-

Before she can think further about it, however, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and was soon met face-to-face with him. "Chiaki, you're thinking too much about this."

Before she can say a word, he squeezed her hand and then added, "Your face clearly shows signs of distress. Is it about the matter with our upcoming guests?" Seeing her nod, he then said, "I'll admit that even I'm not so sure about this either, but I can assure you that no matter what, we'll do our best for them. It's our purpose, after all."

The AI felt her spirits lifted. It's true; even if they might not succeed, they'll still try anyway.

Giving him a smile of gratitude, she replied, "Thanks, Izuru."

It sounds silly and maybe too idealistic, but it doesn't hurt to hope for the better, right?


	5. Greetings and Salutations

**Day 5: Anonymous**

 **Summary:** The two members of Ultimate Despair send a message to Future Foundation.

 **A/N:** If the summary (and tags) weren't enough indication, I'll give you a fair warning that this isn't really happy at all. Please proceed with caution.

* * *

"Are you sure about this? This is rather petty for someone like you."

The black-haired boy asked, though from his tone, it sounded more like a statement of fact. This isn't the first time they've sent anonymous tips towards their rival-no, the enemy, Future Foundation, nor will it be the last. He doesn't understand nor care about her motives for doing so, but as for this one...

"I'm curious about your reason for this particular tip." Izuru turned towards the girl with him, momentarily paused from typing down their message. "Vengeance against your former teacher for betraying you?"

"Not really." Chiaki replied, eyes glazing over to the screen where the boy typed down their 'tip' message.

"You knew that if Kyosuke Munakata took this seriously, this would serve as a devastating blow towards Future Foundation; having one of their members, a branch head as well as one of his most trusted friends, exposed as a mole for Ultimate Despair. This will be more than a simple game changer for us, is this what you wish to achieve?"

"Well, so what if I do? Also, I think that it's too early for you to say that. For all we know, Mr. Narukami could ignore it like the fool he is." She sighed, shaking her head at the thought of the enemy organization's vice leader. "If he listened to the warning we sent that one time, then maybe Sakakura would still have his right arm."

He still remembered that particular incident. Deciding not to question her further, the boy resumed his work, typing the last of their message. The girl then skimmed over the message he made for the rival group, and gave him a nod of approval.

With the click of a button, Izuru has sent their tip on the way. "As always, they won't be able to track down who's the sender. How boring."

Closing the laptop, the boy mused, "Hmm, I find it curious that despite having me in your command and theoretically, you can personally send me to wipe them out, you still prefer to destroy Future Foundation little by little."

He heard her sigh. "You know that easy victories don't feel as satisfying."

"When you put it that way, your approach doesn't sound that different from her-"

Chiaki immediately cut him off with a glare, with crimson irises matching his staring back at him. "Don't. Compare. Me. To. Her."

Izuru didn't even flinch in response. "Of course."

He couldn't have forgotten about Chiaki Nanami's intense hatred towards their former leader; the only reason why she even bothered to take over this miserable organization is to spite Junko Enoshima's legacy, after all.

* * *

 **A/N:** To clarify a few things in this AU:

\- Chiaki took over Ultimate Despair, either through Junko's death as in DR1 or by discrediting Junko for her botched killing game in DR IF. However, if it were the latter case, then her influence wouldn't be as strong as it would in the former, due to plenty of members still remaining loyal to Junko, and because of that, the organization split in half, creating a problem for Future Foundation. As a despair, she has some Blood Knight tendencies. They're not as bad as...say, Akane's, but it's there.

\- Though he doesn't participate much in the organization's atrocities, Izuru is more closely affiliated to Ultimate Despair, with the main reason being because of the fact that Chiaki's there too. As implied above, he's sort of like a right-hand man, more or less serving in a role similar to how Mukuro did, except for the fact that he isn't really mistreated, if at all.

\- While in Ultimate Despair, Izuru and Chiaki's relationship with each other is...complicated, to say the least. While not full-on abusive like any would expect in a despairing relationship, it's still pretty unhealthy due to several factors such as...using each other. Interpret that as you will.


	6. Household With A Dragon

**Day 6: Loyalty/Bonds/Trust**

 **Summary:** Dragons: creatures with great magical abilities, cunning intelligence, are also known to have terrible opinions towards lower forms of life. They were also supposed to be completely made up.

Which is exactly why Chiaki gets really confused when one shows up at her door.

* * *

 **1\. a draconic wake-up call**

Normally, Chiaki isn't the kind of person to attend parties, but since this particular one is the celebration of Natsumi's birthday, Fuyuhiko's sister, and added the fact that it was a personal invitation from him as a classmate, she thought that it'd be really rude of her to turn it down.

In hindsight, maybe she would have declined going there had she known what would happen.

At first, minus the loud noises, the party was alright. Sure, when Fuyuhiko introduced them to his family, it was a little scary, especially since his father was a mountain of a man, but all in all, they seem like good people. Well, if you ignore the part of them being yakuza, that is.

Until the part came where Natsumi had the drinks in, and as peer pressure reared its ugly head, needless to say, it all went downhill from there. In other words, almost everyone present in the party became absolutely _wasted_.

While she doesn't remember much from what happened last night, it sure does explain the terrible hangover she has right now. Just what in the world was she thinking, chugging down an entire bottle of booze even though she barely had any tolerance towards any alcoholic beverages?

 _Maybe a breath of fresh air might help_. Clutching her forehead with a sigh, Chiaki dragged herself off the couch, and after making herself slightly more presentable in appearance, grabbed her door's handle. Normally, mundane stuff such as bright blue skies, birds chirping, or even people down the street would be seen outside. Either way, simple sightseeing should be enough to clear her head.

Instead of any of those this time, however, the student was greeted with the delightful sight of a large, dark, scaly crocodilian face with slit red eyes. Blinking at the really weird thing in front of her, the young woman rubbed her eyes, wondering if she's still half-asleep. It's only until she felt the creature breathe on her that her mind finally began to process what's right in front of her.

Features such as slit eyes, scales, fangs sticking out of its crocodilian snout and ram-like horns? Sounds like a dragon to her.

Wait a minute...a dragon?

A dragon?!

Her eyes widening in surprise, the student felt herself land on her rear, scrambling to get as far as possible, all the while telling herself that might just be an elaborate prank that her schoolmates might have done. And then all similar theories were thrown out the window she heard it speak.

" _Your heartbeat has notably increased._ " It, or rather, judging by the voice, he mused, his head raised as he continued to observe her. Now looking back on it, she never realized how gigantic the dragon was until he pushed his snout further inside, now noticing that his maws are big enough to chomp down on her entire being, and certainly not in a fun way!

The dragon snorted. " _How odd; your behavior towards me right now is drastically different compared to how you were during our first encounter, Chiaki._ "

If the huge, scary dragon outside her apartment room wasn't enough to give her cardiac arrest, then maybe the fact that he also knew her name would. " _Don't look so alarmed; you told me your name in our first meeting._ "

"Um, I...I'm afraid I don't remember any of it."

" _In that case, then you don't remember my name either?_ " Shaking her head in reply, he narrowed his eyes. " _It's Izuru._ _I'm not surprised; if I recall correctly, you were heavily intoxicated the night before._ "

Oh, right, the party from last night. Chiaki scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, and if what Izuru saying is true, she can only imagine how she acted around him last night.

" _With that said, I assume that you didn't forget about your offer last night?_ "

"Hmm?" She tilted her head. What offer was he talking about? Come to think of it, there was something nagging in the back of her mind, like popping up a save file but it refuses to load.

As though he read her thoughts, he replied, " _You offered me a place to stay in your residence. Supposedly, that was the thanks you wanted in return for what you did for me._ "

Through that, memories from last night began to rush towards mind faster than the speed of a certain blue hedgehog; Chiaki's face slowly went red, remembering just how embarrassing she acted towards Izuru. About the supposed offer, on the other hand...

Sighing dejectedly, she looked up at him and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can let you stay in."

Without even asking her for clarification, the dragon pulled his head out of her door. " _Very well, then._ "

As she watched him slowly leave, something began to build up within her consciousness; guilt, perhaps? Maybe it's because of the fact that she's sending him away; maybe it's because she made a promise she couldn't keep.

 _Promise or not, even if I don't remember making it, I can't let him down!_

In the end, before she can end up doing what she'll regret later, she ran outside, and seeing Izuru almost spread his wings and fly off, called out to him,

"Wait!"

The dragon didn't turn back to her. "You changed your mind, I presume?"

* * *

 **2\. settling in**

To say that her past two days were hectic would be a huge understatement. First, she got invited to the birthday party of a yakuza, then she got herself drunk, got lost on the way home and ended up wandering in the mountains for a good while, only to encounter a dragon and now said dragon is living in with her.

Even now, Chiaki still isn't quite sure on how that happened.

Due to how crazy it sounded, she almost forgot about how no one was able to notice a freakishly huge dragon outside ("It was easy to block any onlooker's perception with magic." that was what Izuru answered to her when she brought it up) or how would he be able to fit inside her room (to which the dragon responded by shifting his form to that of a rather tall human with black hair and red eyes).

With those out of the way, she figured that she might as well pull an all-nighter this time around; video games always made for a good distraction from reality, and since said reality is a lot stranger in comparison, it would be nice to have some sort of normalcy this time around.

"What are you doing?" Izuru asked, his eyes peering over the screen as the orcs on-screen were slaughtered by the player's avatar.

"Hmm, this? Oh, I'm just playing Patriarch Archive; it's a video game."

Once she saw his interest piqued, she handed him her console. "Here, you could try it if you'd like to."

It was fun to show him how the controls worked, and though she felt bad for it afterwards, she couldn't help but stifle a giggle when the dragon's character ended up dying on the first enemy.

In the end, Izuru handed the console back to her, with him saying, "The story was dull and uninteresting. In addition to that, the 'orcs' barely resemble the actual creatures they are supposed to represent."

* * *

 **3\. grocery quest**

Because of the fact that Izuru threw most of the food in her fridge away since a few days earlier ("They could hardly sustain you; you really do need better than junk food."), she supposed that a grocery trip is in order. At the same time, this trip can double as a way to get the dragon used outside, as well maybe help him be less hostile to others.

So far, it went off without a hitch. Aside from the occasional glances, people didn't really say much in regards to the young man going with her, aside from the shop owners who knew her jokingly asking her if he was her boyfriend.

"Ah, Chiaki. I didn't expect to see you here!" Nagito greeted as he slowed down in his running, causing the fallen bagel he was chasing to fall into the canal. He didn't pay mind to that.

Chiaki returned his greetings. "Hi, Nagito. How are you? I didn't see you in the party a week ago."

The boy chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Things are fine. About the party, I wasn't able to get there because I got a fever. Maybe I should give Natsumi an apology gift."

As they went deeper into their conversation, both of them could feel an overwhelming aura of hostility directed towards the newcomer. It only grew stronger when the boy took notice of his schoolmate's companion. "Oh, who's this?"

"Izuru Kamukura." He introduced himself, using the pseudonym provided for him as part of his cover.

"Well, in that case, I'm Nagito Komaeda. It's nice to meet you."

Upon reaching their way home while having a few more conversations, Nagito then said his goodbyes to them, saying that he'll see them later.

After returning his farewells, Chiaki sighed and turned towards the boy with her. "Izuru, please don't try to scare my friends away."

"I wasn't trying to."

* * *

 **4\. feasts befitting a god**

"I'm home."

Chiaki called out as she got inside. It's been at least a week since Izuru has been living with her. While it's true that he gets on her nerves sometimes, she'll admit that it's hard for her to think of how life was before the dragon came along; She can guess that she is starting to grow fond of him.

Putting her bag down on the couch, the student was then greeted all sorts of wonderful aroma. Walking into the kitchen, she was right when she suspected that it was Izuru behind it, watching him set down all sorts of cuisine that would make Teruteru green with envy on the table. "Welcome back." The young man replied as he set the plates down.

"Wow, you made these?" She asked as she sat down, eyeing each and every meal on the table. Izuru told her that he would start making food for both of them from now on ever since the stove fire incident, but she never imagined that he would take it to this level.

"That I did." He said in reply.

Before she could take a bite, the girl glanced at him and asked, "What about you?"

"Do not worry about me; I have already eaten before you arrived. Now, go on and eat."

Taking his word for it, she grabbed a fork, and after taking a taste, never before had she realized it's been a long time since she last had a decent meal that wasn't take-out; she momentarily forgot her manners as she quickly finished the rest of it. It's only after she was done that she realized what happened, and so she looked away sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just...your cooking really is good."

"That is alright." He flicked a stray piece of rice off her cheek.

Looking at the next meal he moved towards her, she an only blink in response. "Izuru, what's this?" If this was steak, then she definitely hasn't seen any meat like this before. Not to mention, if her eyes weren't playing any tricks, she swore that she could see some fluids dripping off it.

"That's my tail meat." Izuru bluntly replied, and needless to say, that was enough to kill her appetite. Sure, she can accept the existence of exotic food, but to literally eat a piece of meat from her friend is a whole new level.

Politely pushing the plate away, she then said, "Um...I think I'm full now."

"Are you sure? Plenty of people would kill to be in your place right now. Not to mention, it took me several hours to remove the poison from it."

"Yes, sorry, Izuru." Chiaki apologized. "It's just that...I'm really uncomfortable about it."

Izuru nodded, and taking a seat in front of her, took the plate with the aforementioned tail meat. "Suit yourself, then." Noticing her odd looks towards him, he then said, "I couldn't let it go to waste."

 _That's not the point, though._ Chiaki thought.

* * *

 **extra: imagine spot**

Normally, Izuru doesn't bother much with unnecessary thoughts, but this one in particular stood out and refused to retreat into the deepest depths of his mind.

 _What would Chiaki look like as a dragon?_

He knew that with his magic, he can freely shift between a dragon and a human. In Chiaki's case, however, seeing as she was born an ordinary human in a world devoid of magic, he couldn't quite help but imagine how she would look like.

Perhaps she would be a bit smaller compared to him; a more round-shaped face as opposed to his crocodilian one. She might have six limbs; four legs and a set of wings, and maybe fluffy ears in the place of horns.

For some reason, his mind decided to set the climax of his imagination by having his dragon form stare back at the female dragon's round eyes, before giving a trill and booped him on the snout with her nose. He then quickly dismissed any further thoughts about it.

He's not actually getting too attached to her, he tells himself.

He knows how short the lifespan of humans are, after all.


	7. Carnivore

For all the times she's waken up, they never really started up with her feeling like multiple sharp objects pierced her body in many places. In addition to that, there was this weird, heavy feeling coming from her limbs, making it feel like one of those times where she's still half-asleep even after waking up, usually after doing a playthrough marathon of an entire game series.

At the time when she opened her eyes, that's when she realized that she's not really in her room, or any place familiar to her, for that matter; because for starters, unless if this place was a warehouse, then those gray, unpainted walls looked really out of place.

"You're awake."

If the unfamiliar surroundings weren't enough to jolt the girl awake, then maybe hearing someone else's voice would. Immediately coming to her senses, at the side of where she laid down, was a boy who looked like he was watching over her. It may be the factors of still being slight drowsy kicking in, but something about him felt awfully familiar, nagging at her scalp.

Naturally, a familiar name was the first thing that popped out of her mind.

"...Hajime?"

The stranger didn't make any sudden movements, but she could feel his confusion. "I'm afraid that you might have been mistaken." That was what he said, and as her drowsiness slowly wore off, she can clearly see what he meant by that.

His facial features may look similar to her best friend, but whereas Hajime had green eyes, the boy before her had red ones. Another feature she saw is that unlike Hajime's rugged brown hair, he had smooth-looking black locks, and if she looked closer, would see that it reached his feet.

"Oh..."

If this was had been an entirely different situation, she might have asked more about him, digging for any possible answers, and try to confirm if this stranger really was her missing friend. But there are more pressing matters at the moment, such as how and why she ended up in here. That, and she can't really make any baseless assumptions, like those people who end up thinking too hard about simple things in video games and then create insane theories about it from cherry-picked facts.

Oblivious to the girl's slight embarrassment, he faced towards her and then asked, "Your name is...?"

It might have been out of simple politeness, but she replied, " Chiaki Nanami."

"Izuru Kamukura." The stranger introduced himself. He then tilted his head, as if to take a better look at her, and then mused, "From what I can see, your body has adapted to the virus better than I thought it would have."

 _V-Virus?_ "Huh?" She'll admit that this guy was a bit shady before, but now this is giving her all sorts of bad gut feelings. Just what does he mean by 'virus'?

"It may be a lot for you to process, but in a way, you're not truly human anymore. You are now an infected."

Chiaki stared at him blankly, unsure of what to make from what he said.

"You do not believe me, I presume?" Izuru stood up. "That is alright; I'm well aware that you would be skeptical at first. I suppose further proof is in order."

From there, she saw how a lock of his hair began to stretch and shape itself into an absurdly sharp blade. The action itself is enough to make her eyes widen in surprise.

Without even letting her try to assume that he's only playing tricks on her, the blade of hair stabbed its way through the wall, just millimeters away from striking in her face. After several seconds have passed, the blade hair deformed back into its natural shape, shrinking back to its original length, all the while he's being oblivious to the fact that he may have frightened the girl in his little demonstration.

In fact, she can clearly see that said demonstration left a small crater in the wall.

In the midst of confusion and panic, the girl tried to push herself off the bed, hoping to get away from this place and maybe, just maybe, make even a little bit of sense from the madness of her current situation.

As it turns out, maybe trying to get off the bed after being unconscious for an unknown span of time wasn't exactly the brightest idea she had. Because of that, the girl ended up falling on the floor, flailing her legs in hilariously pitiful attempts of getting up.

On the other hand, the stranger with her only blinked at this new development. "It appears that you could somewhat move your limbs despite having been in disuse for at least a month." He observed. "Had this been any other situation, they would have atrophied due to your prior state."

If Chiaki was her friend Fuyuhiko, she'll probably yell at this guy to cut his bullshit out.

However, since she isn't Fuyuhiko, all she can do is to try and get up, even trying to use her hands to push herself off the ground. The end result is comparable to watching a newborn giraffe trying to stand for the first time.

Eventually, Izuru decided that had enough of watching her flailing around, and so grabbed under her shoulders, pulling her up until he was confident with holding her balance.

With that situation taken care of, Izuru had her seated on a chair, making sure that she'll be in a comfortable position as he began to explain more of her situation. In addition to that, he had a styrofoam box with him. What he would use it for, she didn't have the slightest idea.

"As I have told you earlier, you are now an infected." He began, "That, I was the cause of. However, keep in mind that it was a necessary gambit as you were at the brink of death that time." Making a quick glance at his hand, he then said, "For that matter, the origin of my condition and by extension, yours, is the result of an experiment; that much I can say."

 _Seems like he won't say any more about that_ , she thought. With a nod, she gestured him to continue. Weird as this was getting, it's for the best if she should learn more about her predicament at the moment.

"Besides the fact that your wounds have remarkably healed, I'm afraid that there are currently no other drastic changes that I have seen thus far. However, there is one change in you that is typical for any infected." The box's lid was pulled out, and soon Chiaki was faced with the smell of fresh, raw meat.

"That is, you would begin to hunger for flesh." He explained, pulling out a piece out and held it in his hand. "Most of our kin especially have a strong preference towards the non-infected of their kind."

The sight alone should be enough to disgust any sane person, and it would have done the same to her, if not for the fact that her stomach began to growl; although she was unsure the reason why is because what he's saying is true or only because she's been unconscious and hasn't eaten in a while.

Whatever it may be, there is one thing for certain.

 _I'd rather starve!_

"I know that you're uncomfortable at the idea of consuming flesh, especially if it's of human origin," Izuru explained like he read her mind, handing her the chunk of raw meat. "However, I do not wish for you to starve yourself simply for that reason. Please, take it."

He then added, "There is nothing to worry; it's something that you should be familiar with. If I recall correctly, the container I found it from labelled it as 'beef'."

If that wasn't enough to convince her, then surely hearing one more growl from her stomach would. Not to mention, if he said that the meat in his hand really is beef, then, maybe it should be okay. In the end, Chiaki sighed in defeat and reached her hand out, hesitantly pinching at the meat. When Izuru didn't try to pull it away, she took it with her.

"Thanks, I guess." She replied.

The chunk itself felt slimy in her hands. If anyone else was in her place, they surely would have gagged by now.

She might as well get this over with. Taking a deep breath, and ignoring the strong scent from the raw flesh, she bit down and let the flavor sink in her teeth. Out of all the surprises that she might have been expected, it tasted exactly as it would if she ate it as a human.

For all the changes brought by her transformation, it didn't really do much in regards to her taste buds.

The boy raised a brow when he saw her pause. "How is it?"

He didn't really need an answer for that; from what he saw, the girl with him didn't stop in taking several more bites out of the flesh and swallowing them. Soon enough, there wasn't even a strip of the flesh left, and as Izuru observed, saw that Chiaki instinctively lick her fingertips.

"With that said, however, I'm afraid that simple livestock wouldn't be enough to sustain you in the long run." That made her pause; does that mean that she'll have to consume people one day, just to survive? Chiaki slumped at the thought of it. Reading her expression, Izuru clarified, "Of course, you don't have to feed on humans if you still don't wish to, but you may not like the alternative as well."

"Well, what's worse than eating people, then?" Any option besides eating a person would sound fine to her right now, heck, even drinking radioactive waste sounds a million times better.

"Besides humans, you may consume fellow infected instead; that is to say, resorting to pseudo-cannibalism." He explained, to which the girl now blanched at the thought.

It's one thing to kill them, but to eat them afterwards? That's an entirely different level. The choices she had, if they should even be called that, it's either a) eat humans, which is cannibalism, or b) eat the infected, which is still cannibalism.

 _I guess it's not really a choice anymore, is it?_

After thinking about it, Chiaki decided that, should it ever come to that, consuming fellow infected is the lesser of the two evils; it might sound a little biased, but in her opinion, it's still slightly better to feed on a mindless creature that would try to harm innocents anyway.

With their discussion over, the room grew rather tense and quiet. After a while, Izuru broke the silence, saying,

"If you wish to, you may stay inside for a little longer. As you already know, a drastic change has occurred in the surroundings since the last time you were awake;" He offered. "you might become overwhelmed if you were to take it alongside your sudden transformation."

* * *

A few moments had passed, and by that time, it dawned upon Chiaki that there was something missing from her. She began checking the inside of her pockets even began patting several parts of her body in search for the missing item.

"Are you looking for this?" She turned towards Izuru, and saw in his hands was the very item she's looking for; her console. Not giving any sort of reaction towards her relief and joy, he handed the gadget back to her, responding to her multiple thanks with a knowing nod.

Admittedly, he took the odd device away from her while she was unconscious, for several reasons such as making sure that it wouldn't be a hindrance or be lost during her recovery, and he figured that she would want it back by the time she's awoken. He stands corrected in those regards.

* * *

Though by the time she agreed to take a step outside with him, a few hours weren't really enough to help Chiaki recover from suddenly being info-dumped with a lot of things all at once. First, there was the fact that apparently, she nearly died, and then had her life saved but at the cost of her humanity. Second, around the same time that happened, a mass outbreak has started and began to infect all sorts of life and turned them into zombie mutants.

Speaking of that, to say that the outside world has changed since the last time she saw it would be a huge understatement. Hues of crimson have since replaced the blue skies. The stench of death overwhelmed her senses, making her nearly fall over before being caught by Izuru. She muttered a quiet "Thanks" in reply as she was helped to her feet.

While they were passing by some of the empty buildings, she then asked, "Izuru, what happened to everyone in here?"

"Either the residents managed to evacuate, or succumbed to the virus; perhaps a mix of both. I wasn't an active observer at that time. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was wondering, since we're still ourselves, maybe we can look for other survivors-"

"If you have plans about returning to a human settlement, then I'm afraid to say that the chances of them accepting us are very low, impossible even."

Chiaki turned back to him, her head tilted. "Huh, why?"

His answer was very straightforward. "At best, they will simply shoot you down. At worst, they will keep you in containment to be poked and prodded like a guinea pig."

That didn't sound right; it might a bit understandable if they were more like the monstrosities outside, but as far as anyone is concerned, besides their somewhat dead-looking eyes, they don't look or act that different from the non-infected humans.

"Why would they do that? People can't be that unreasonable, I think."

The boy began to walk forward. "The answer should be obvious to you, Chiaki. We're one of the infected; it's only natural for the non-infected survivors to view us with suspicion and hostility. Even those who are only suspected to have been infected will be put down because of heavy distrust."

She didn't any reply to that this time, focusing more on keeping her steps up with him.

 _Skrrrree.._

 _..Hrrrrrissss.._

 _...Grrr...hrrhg..._

A few steps in, and the girl felt herself stop, causing the boy to stop as well and face towards her. Her body tensed as the scents coming from entities that can only be described as _wrong_ felt stronger.

It had been faint before, but it's only now that Chiaki has managed to comprehend what her new instincts were telling her. These new presnces, whatever they are, didn't feel human; rather, they felt eerily similar to the presence emitted the two of them.

Noticing her reaction, her momentary companion placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "The others shouldn't be a problem as long as we stand our ground." He told her, his eyes surveying the area. "If they truly value their self-preservation, they wouldn't dare to trifle with their stronger fellows."

It took a second before she found out that he was talking about the roaming infected within their vicinity.

But then, even with Izuru's earlier reassurances that other infected would leave them alone, Chiaki still can't help but be unnverved by their presence, her breathing somewhat shaken in sensing several individuals nearby.

It wasn't until going farther ahead that she managed to see one of those infected from a distance. If she were to describe it, it'd basically be similar to that of a typical canine zombie monster, were it not for a few things that made it look so _wrong_ ; it had blank eyes and pale skin, but it also had a hideously long tongue and a large, misshapen arms that looked disproportionate to its hindlegs.

Due to the weight of its deformed limbs, the freak of nature had to resort to crawling as its form of mobility. It hasn't noticed their presence, and even if it did, it didn't really seem to care. As a matter of fact, it moved its way towards the fresh carcass of a dog nearby and began to feed on it.

If whatever virus outbreak affected animals that horribly, then she can't imagine what it would have done to humans, barring the case with her and Izuru. The others might not have turned out as lucky as them.

Eventually, when the skies darkened, they returned to the warehouse, due to the fact that some of the infected were more restless during nighttime than the day, especially those that hunt in groups. For now, the warehouse served as a temporary shelter for the time they would stay in this area.

* * *

When the next day came, throughout that time, it mostly consisted of Izuru answering whatever question Chiaki asked from him. When it came to questions about his origins, however, he chose to ignore them.

Anyways, as Chiaki found out, her near death was caused by multiple stab wounds; she had little recollection of the events leading to that, and were it not for the punctures left on her chest and abdomen she wouldn't have believed him about it.

In addition to that, she also learned that most of the infected are opportunistic predators and are indiscriminate to what they consume. While it's considered common knowledge among survivors that the infected go after humans, what they gave little concern to is the fact that the infected wouldn't hesitate to cannibalize on each other if the need arises.

Just like any post-apocalypse scenario, it eventually occurred to her that they would be needing supplies along the way; things like extra clothes, bags to carry their belongings, and such (funnily enough, food is probably the least of their worries, considering the fact that there's literally a walking supply of them readily available anywhere).

Izuru didn't share the same sentiments as she did, however, and bluntly told her that if they would have any baggage, she'll be the one to carry them.

With that said, she didn't have much luck in finding said materials, though she did manage to find a simple backpack among the debris, so there's at least one item off the checklist.

While searching around inside an abandoned home, there was a noise that caught her attention, sounds similar to that of a static. Momentarily, she walked towards the source and found a radio beneath the desk.

"Huh? It's still on..." The radio didn't look to be too old and as a matter of fact, it's still be operating; the current channel it was broadcasting had nothing but static. How it managed to stay on even without anyone around to operate it, she had no clue. Thoughtfully, she then lightly tapped on a few buttons, hearing more and more static until she finally got to a channel that was a lot more comprehensible compared to the others.

It looks like that she's not the only one listening to it, as the broadcast from the radio channel, which she now recognized as a news report, also caught the attention of the boy with her.

 _"Last night, in Towa City, another person was discovered to have been infected. In order to prevent the virus from possibly spreading within the area, the victim, Mr. Ogata, has been put down. According to eyewitnesses, Ogata was last seen attempting to flee from the area after the discovery of his infection was made public before he was shot by the son of Mr. Towa-"_

Izuru pressed a finger onto the button, turning it off and preventing his companion from hearing the rest of the report. He didn't say anything, but Chiaki had a small feeling that if he would, he will probably be saying something along the lines of 'I told you so'.

Reflecting on the news from earlier, and if she were to take Izuru's earlier warnings at face value, then what of her friends and family? How would they take in the news of her turning into something similar to those things? At worst, they'll probably try to shoot her before letting her say even a word to them.

No, she can't think about that right now. Shaking those thoughts away, she grabbed the radio and placed it inside her bag.

That action didn't go unnoticed. "What would you need that for?" She heard him ask, and to which she replied with,

"It might come in handy, I think."

* * *

Because the only items she managed to scavenge are the backpack, a bit of extra clothes and the radio, there wasn't that much to carry around with her. To be fair, having little to carry around is probably the best option for now.

Chiaki reflected on her current situation, which as far as she's concerned, is easily be summed up by every zombie post-apocalyptic world clichés and tropes that can be named.

An outbreak that rendered the collapse of society? Check. The outbreak results in people and animals infected being turned into mindless abominations that hungers for flesh? Double check. The remnants of the outbreak try and survive in the now post-apocalyptic world where there are more zombie mutants than regular people while avoiding dangers such as the aforementioned zombie mutants, humans who are willing to kill each other for things as simple as supplies, chances of starvation and possibly death? Check, check, and check.

 _Now that I think about, it's kinda funny. I mean, I've played games with this kind of setting before._

"Chiaki." Izuru called out to her. She turned her head towards him, seeing him hold the severed arm of an infected that tried to attack them not too long ago. Like the first infected she saw, this one was once a dog.

Before he could even ask her, she shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

"Suit yourself, then." was the reply from her fellow infected, shrugging while he finished the rest of the carcass; she didn't dare to take a look on how he did so, but the crunching noises should be enough for her.

Looking back on it, she's glad that her forgetfulness in eating has come in handy for once.

 _Well, except, I'm not a member of the human survivors this time. I'm now one of the monsters they hunt down._

* * *

 **A/N: Whew, this chapter was quite the load to work on; it actually took me more than a month to finish it!**

 **With that said, hope you enjoyed my entries for Kamunami Week 2018!**


End file.
